REPORT ON THE SEALS. 



39 



parallel to an anteroposterior plane. The basi-oecipital was not perforated mesially. 

 Each skull had a single supra-occipital foramen immediately within the outer edge of the 

 foramen magnum. The carotid canal opened independently of the jugular foramen. The 

 par-occipitals were very slight. 



The lower jaw, although much less massive than in Otaria, yet had a general 

 resemblance in form ; the subcondyloid process from the posterior border of the ascending 

 ramus was distinct and inflected, and the coronoid process was lelatively large. It also 

 had a tubercle which marked the angle, which was feeble as compared with Otaria. 



Avctocephalus australis (Zimmermann) (Pis. VI., VII.). 

 Phoca australis, Zimmermann, Geogr. Geschichte, iii., 1783. 

 South American Fur-Seal. 



The specimens from the Messier Channel have furnished me with material for studying 

 both the external characters and the osteology of the Fur-Seal which frequents the 

 southern part of South America. 



External Characters. — The external characters were examined in the skins of 

 both the male and female specimens. The principal dimensions were as follows : — 



Table VI. — Dimensions of South American Fur-Seal. 



From snout to tip of tail in straight line, 



From snout to tip of longest digit of pes, 



Length of free part of tail, 



Length of pectoral limb, 



Greatest breadth of that limb, 



Length of hind limb from root of tail, 



Greatest breadth of that limb, 



From root of pectoral limb to angle of mouth, 



Male. 



ft. in. 



11 

 10* 



3| 



4 



6| 



5 

 



Female. 



ft. in. 

 3 10* 



1 2 

 1 2 



u 



1 6" 



The skin possessed two kinds of hairs, long and short. On the back of the neck and 

 chest the long over-hairs were from one to two inches long, the shaft of the hair being black 

 but tipped with grey or yellowish-grey so as to give a grizzled character. In the lumbar, 

 sacral, and caudal regions the black over-hairs were not more than an inch long, and their 

 tips were grey. On the under surface of the remarkably elongated neck the over-hairs 

 resembled in colour those on the back of the neck, but were not quite so long. On the 

 sides of the body they were like those in the lumbar region, but on the belly they were 

 blackish-brown, and without grey tips. The dorsal surface of both manus and pes was 



